“No,” I respond right away. “It’s fine. I feel bad. I’m sorry.”
Atticus pops his head in from the shop door, eyeing the three of us like he interrupted a standoff. “Out front,” he supplies, always using the least amount of words as he can, in true Atticus fashion. His head disappears, and his hand comes through the cracked door, dangling a set of keys. Without looking, Delane grabs them and passes them to our customer.
The customer that is still staring at me with wide eyes and parted lips.
“Thank you,” she says slowly, moving her gaze to Delane. I don’t bother looking at Delane. I just watch as the woman smiles, turns, and walks out of the shop as if she didn’t just shake up my entire world.
My feet begin following her, and it’s the first thing in a long time that’s felt really fucking right. Like I’mmeantto follow her.
“I am sorry, you know,” I say as the door closes behind me. I’m standing on the sidewalk lining Wrench Kings, and she’s got her hand out, about to open her car door, keys already in the lock.
She wraps her hand around the handle but doesn’t pull. “Look, it’s fine. I understand.”
I rake a hand up the back of my head, pulling nervously at my neck. “You understand?”
She nods and gives me the smallest, sexiest of smiles. “I understand heartbreak. It makes you a person you’re not.” She opens the door, keeping it propped with her hip.
My face must look confused, but because I’m so transfixed by everything that isthis woman, I say nothing. Her smile broadens, and I shift my stance to hide my hardening cock.
“Earpods girl. She said you have a broken heart.” She shrugs, blonde hair glittering in the morning sunlight. “I get that.”
“Someone brokeyourheart?” What a fuckin’ moron that guy is.
She smiles, but this time it’s small, controlled, and sad. That sad little smile fucking crushes my chest.
“Thank you for the apology. I accept. And thank you for covering the bill.” She slides one leg into her car, beginning to bend to sit. “I hope you don’t get in trouble for that.” Her eyes dip to the name embroidered on my chest. “Beau.”
I step off the sidewalk but remain a few paces back when I say, “whatever he does, you will be his biggest regret.”
She gets into her car, buckles her seat belt, and rolls the window down. With a shy smile, she offers me a simple word. “Bye.”
I lift my hand for a somber wave. It doesn’t feel like I’m saying goodbye to a woman whose name I don’t know and who I just met last week. It feels like I’m boarding the train for war, and she’s my sweetheart who I may never see again.
The world is a blur around me when I enter the shop, leaning over the counter to get my fucking bearings. I don’t know her. What the hell is happening to me?
Miller and Atticus linger around me, and I can’t remember if they were inside when I came back in or not.
“Can you believe someone brokeherheart?” I say to them, staring at the tire rotation package specials plastered to the desk beneath the Plexiglass.
Miller’s voice is teasing but gentle when he says, “you got it bad for her, boss.”
Through sips of coffee, Atticus says, “he ain’t the only one.”
I push off the desk, squaring off with Atticus, even though he’s got a few inches and lots of pounds on me. The man is a fucking brick house. “You got it for her, too?” I ask, heart racing, knuckles curling.
Who the fuck am I? Ready to punch my best friend over a goddamn stranger?
But I am.
Atticus’s lips curl into a sinister smile. He sips his coffee leisurely, and I squirm, waiting for his response,asshole.
“She’s got a kid. I saw her out front when she got dropped off this morning.”
She’s got a kid. She’s a mom. Which could very well meanshe’s married.
“Fuck,” I exhale, trying to process what feels like the worst news in the goddamn world. Or at least the worst news I’ve received in the last year.
“Maybe it wasn’t her kid?” Miller offers, sensing my complete deflation.